GEORG KAISER’S THE BURGHERS OF CALAIS

Georg Kaiser (1878-1945) wrote The Burghers of Calais (Die Burger von Calais) in 1913, a period of both national and international tension.  This three-act play was published during 1914, in Berlin by S. Fischer, shortly before World War One commenced. It did not garner much attention until 1917, when many of the German people were growing weary of the war. The Burghers of Calais gained the reputation as a powerful denunciation of war.

Gustav Landauer (1870-1919) a leading theorist on anarchism in Germany mentioned Kaiser’s play in his essay Ein Weg deutschen Geistes (A Way of the German Spirit). This essay was first published in 1916. It inspired Arthur Hellmer (1880-1961), the founder of the New Theatre in Frankfurt, to stage the premier on January 27, 1917. The message in The Burghers of Calais as well as its new style of Expressionism made it a popular choice for private theaters in other German and Austrian cities.

Scholars believe that Kaiser was inspired to write his drama by Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) sculpture Les Bourgeois de Calais, first displayed in 1889. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) met Rodin in 1902 and the following year he wrote about this particular Rodin sculpture detailing the gestures and the sense of movement derived from this powerful piece. It is claimed by scholars that many of these details were incorporated into Kaiser’s character descriptions and stage directions.

Another possible resource used by Kaiser is the Chronicles of Jean Froissart (1337-1405).  This volume relates to events that occurred during the first part of the Hundred Years War (1326-1400). Foissart’s history includes the siege of Calais beginning in 1346 and concluded a year later. It is thought that since Kaiser uses the actual names of only four citizens involved in the events at Calais, he must have read the second edition of Froissart’s account since all six citizens are named in the fourth edition. Kaiser’s plot follows the general historical events, but he was not interested in historical accuracy. He selected historical incidents and individuals as background for creating creditable opportunities to layout his own theories about reshaping human behavior.

Act I of The Burghers of Calais takes place in 1347 at the town hall, a red-brick building with wide steps that serve as seats.  On the steps stand six of the Councilors of the city of Calais. The seventh Councilor named Eustache De Saint Pierre is seated. During this act these seven citizen leaders are faced with the choice of defending their city, which has the closest French port to the English shore. The Councilors receive the message that the French King has been defeated by King Edward III (English) as the French monarch and his soldiers were rushing to aid Calais.

 Edward III now demands six prominent citizens of Calais to be selected to bring him the keys to the city while they are dressed in sackcloth and ashes, with a rope around their necks. This surrender must happen before sunrise of the following day.  If this does not occur, Edward III claims he will have every person in the city killed as well as destroy the entire city.

Eventually, the Councilors, led by Eustache, decide to offer themselves as the sacrificial victims.  However, all seven of them volunteer. Since six are needed, they agree to meet again in the afternoon for the drawing of lots to grant life to the seventh volunteer. Act II is set in the main chamber of the city hall. The Councilors attempt the drawing of lots, but it provides no solution.

Act III takes place prior to sun-rise in the market place. It was determined in Act II that the last Councilor to arrive would be spared.  Only Eustache is missing at the appointed time. He is quickly denounced as a coward. Eustache’s ancient, blind father arrives with his son’s body. Eustache committed suicide so that the remaining six men may know the way of self-sacrifice for a common cause. It is Eustache who represents the emergence of Kaiser’s idea concerning the development of the “New Man.” Kaiser envisioned that the “New Man” embodied new values for society to embrace such as humility and love instead of power and heroism.

While The Burghers of Calais became widely produced in German speaking countries, the script was not translated into English for a number of years. I read the translation by J. M. Ritchie and Rex Last published in 1971 by Calder and Boyars Limited, London. I found a reference to a 1946 translation titled The Citizens of Calais by Bayard Quincy Morgan as well as another with the same title by Adam I. Weiss dated 1965. This latter book was published by the University of Denver and it includes two other plays and “an explanation of the Social Image Expressed in the Plays.”

The Burghers of Calais was translated into Japanese and it was produced by a theatre in Tokyo either late in 1920 or early 1921. This information appeared in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle on July 2, 1922.  A 1956 production was part of an outdoor German Festival.  It was presented on the steps of St. Michael’s Cathedral at Schwarbisch Hall in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.  The steps of this historic church are a perfect setting for this play. In November, 1978 BBC Radio 3 aired its version of the play throughout many sections of England.

Kaiser’s reputation as a pacifist playwright began with The Burghers of Calais in 1917. Walter H. Sokel, in his book The Writer in Extremis: Expressionism in Twentieth-Century German Literature, considers this drama as “one of the most powerful dramas of Expressionist pacifism.”

NOTES:

1. Photo of Georg Kaiser from Georg Kaiser by B. J. Kenworthy, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1957    
2. The Burghers of Calais Statue photo by Arpingstone at English Wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The.burg.of.calais.london.arp.750pix.jpg

WALTER HASENCLEVER’S ANTIGONE

Walter Hasenclever (1890-1940) was a young German Expressionist playwright who initially believed in the need for Germany to go to war.  He joined the military during the summer of 1914 and served as a translator and kitchen orderly. His play Der Sohn (The Son) premiered in Dresden during September, 1916. It was in this same year that he started writing his play Antigone.  Prior to its premiere in December, 1917 at the Schauspielhaus of the Leipzig Stadtheater, Hasenclever wangled a discharge from military service. 1917 proved to be a memorable year for Hasenclever since Antigone received glowing reviews and he was awarded the Kleist Prize for the play.  He was immediately acknowledged as one of the young leaders of the German Expressionist theatre movement.

I have read plays about Antigone since I was in high school and I was eager to read Hasenclever’s version. This Antigone is a strong antiwar play.  It is thought by scholars that the classical story obscured the play’s deeper meaning. Obviously the antiwar message was overlooked by the Weimar Republic censors.

The plot is divided into five acts with a total of twenty-five French scenes. The stage represents both the city and the palace of Thebes. The palace is the background. In the center the palace gateway opens on to a platform—this area is the theatre of the King. Steps lead down into the arena where there are three entrances: right, left and opposite the palace.  The arena is the theatre of the people. I will share an abbreviated idea of how the plot progresses on the described stage and how Hansenclever’s play follows Sophocle’s storyline.

Act I, Scene 1. People of Thebes stream into the arena. The gate of the palace opens and a Herald enters and announces that the war is over and the enemies are defeated. He explains that Eteocles, the king is dead. He was killed by his brother Polynices. King Creon, their uncle, proclaimed that Polynices, the enemy, is not to be buried and his body has been left outside the gates of the city. The joyful people celebrate the end of the war as they exit the arena.

Scene 2. Antigone enters the arena with Ismene, her sister. Antigone vows to bury her brother, Polynices and exits the area. The scene closes as a crowd of people surge into the arena and Ismene is swept away by them. The conflict is obviously based on the mythological story and it remains close to its model throughout acts one, two and three. However, the characters do not share all the same feelings as their ancient Greek counterparts. Hasenclever endowed some of his characters with feelings and actions that were similar to what the German/Prussian leadership and some of the people were espousing prior and during World War One. This is particularly true of King Creon.

While all the named characters of the Greek myth follow their destinies as they were originally prescribed, the feeling of this Antigone is more dramatic than the plays that follow the Greek model. Hasenclever’s citizens of Thebes do not serve as a Chorus who comment on the action. His people are highly opinionated and volatile.  This combination should create a tension in the arena that would be reactive and dynamic. In Act II, Scene 5 the crowd wants Creon to pardon Antigone, but he berates them. When no one obeys Creon’s command to seize Antigone, he calls the Horsemen to ride into the arena and seize her. This action occurs and one of the Horsemen grabs Antigone and “throws her backwards across his horse,” and races out of the arena using the center exit.

Acts IV and V track the basic plot points of the myth, but Hasenclever presents the story with many different details. Creon is finally persuaded to forgive Antigone and not have her entombed. In Act IV, Scene 3 Creon arrives at the tomb and learns that Antigone is dead. Haemon, Creon’s son and future husband of Antigone, stabs himself in view of the audience when he learns of her death during Scene 4.  Scene 5 adds to this tragedy with the burning of Thebes.

Act V relates Eurydice’s part of the story, she is Haemon’s mother and Creon’s wife. The fire burning Thebes is woven throughout the four scenes of this act. The people want to know who is guilty of starting the fire.

Hasenclever skillfully used expressionist traits in his version of Antigone. Antigone constantly confronted Creon, who symbolized the old order. The language in the confrontations is spare. Antigone also abandoned the strong belief in the use of the sword—she stood for love and unity. True to the final action of many expressionist heroes/heroines, Antigone commits suicide. The total destruction of the city of Thebes by fire symbolically eradicated the physical environment and opened the possibility for a new vision. Creon’s exit from his role of King allowed the possibility for a new order to be established. Although the language in the play is often spare, the speeches and actions are filled with Strum und Drang violence. 

Hasenclever’s Antigone received numerous productions during the war in Germany, but I have found no evidence of this play being presented in the Allied nations. The only announcement of the rights to this play being purchased was a newspaper article dated September 20, 1927 that appeared in the Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey.  This story originated in Vienna and it stated that Alexander Tairoff (1885-1950) the Russian theatre director, had acquired Hasenclever’s Antigone as one of the plays he was taking on tour to Sweden, Norway, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Paris and Italy. The music for Tairoff’s production was written by Alexander Shenshin (1890-1944) a Russian composer. 

I have found no evidence of Hasenclever’s Antigone ever being performed in either Great Britain or the United States even though other plays by him were. He was a well-known playwright during the years between the wars. He committed suicide in June of 1940 while staying in a French internment camp. His death coincided with France signing the armistice with Germany.

NOTES: 

1.      I read J.M. Ritchie’s translation of Antigone.

2.      The play is dedicated to Tilla Durieux (1880-1971) an Austrian actress.

3.      Please share any additional information with this post about productions that I did not find.    

·         11/26/17--a reader of this post informed me about the following production of Hasenclever’s Antigone.  During spring 2007, the students at Hazen Union School in Hardwick, Vermont performed this play at their school March 19-23. They performed it again at the Regional Drama Festival in Johnsbury, Vermont on March 24, 2007. The production was directed by Marc Considine.